Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nikki Haley do not have a lot in common, but the cases they have made for choosing President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris are strong, and Trump should take the opportunity to campaign with both of them. The seriousness that this would add to his campaign, especially if he dropped the petty personal feuds that limited his appeal, could do much to regain the ground he has lost to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Like Trump himself, Kennedy has always appealed more to those who consider themselves outside the party establishments. In his endorsement speech Friday, Kennedy aptly tied his struggles against the Democratic Party’s corrupt abuse of power to those also experienced by Trump.
“Lacking confidence that its candidate could win a fair election at the voting booth, the DNC waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself,” Kennedy said.
“It deployed DNC-aligned judges to throw me and other candidates off the ballot and to throw President Trump in jail,” Kennedy continued. “It ran a sham primary that was rigged to prevent any serious challenge to President Biden. Then, when a predictably awful debate performance precipitated a palace coup against President Biden, the same shadowy DNC operatives appointed his successor, also without an election. They installed a candidate who was so unpopular with voters that she dropped out in 2020 without winning a single delegate… This is profoundly undemocratic.”
A more accurate description of how Democrats have behaved this election cycle does not exist.
Kennedy went on to acknowledge that he and Trump disagree on many issues, and that he fought Trump on them when Trump was president. But then Kennedy turned to what united them.
“We are aligned with each other on other key issues,” Kennedy said, “like ending of forever wars, ending the childhood disease epidemics, securing the border, protecting freedom of speech, unraveling the corporate capture of our regulatory agencies, and getting the U.S. intelligence agencies out of the business of propagandizing and censoring and surveilling Americans and interfering with our elections.”
These are all bipartisan positions that enjoy public support. These are issues that Trump can confidently campaign with Kennedy on for the next two months.
Haley draws her support from an entirely different type of voter than Kennedy does. Where Kennedy appealed to outsiders who want fundamental change, Haley appeals to more traditional voters who want a change in course from the Biden/Harris regime, but also value stability and strength.
“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him,” Haley said at the Republican National Convention. “Take it from me. I haven’t always agreed with President Trump, but we agree more often than we disagree.” This is a message that Trump should invite Haley to take to voters intensively between now and Election Day.
“We agree on keeping America strong,” Haley continued. “We agree on keeping America safe. And we agree that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they’re putting our freedoms in danger.”
Haley then went on to detail how Trump’s commitment to American strength kept aggressors at bay while he was in office. She detailed how Biden’s weakness and appeasement emboldened Russia in Ukraine and Iran throughout the Middle East, including Yemen and Gaza. The way to avoid the wars Kennedy disdains is through the military power that Trump is committed to building.
Like Kennedy, Haley also singled out Trump’s commitment to securing the border, an issue Biden has proven to be completely ineffectual on. Border insecurity is a continuous and ineradicable weakness for Harris, who once endorsed decriminalizing illegal crossings and still has not explained her about turn on the issue.
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Trump is an undisciplined campaigner and a leader who lets petty vendettas dictate his behavior. But he made progress this week when he buried the hatchet with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, thanked him for his support, and pledged to work with him in the future.
Trump is going to need all the support he can get to defeat Harris and the Democratic Party this November. He should take the opportunity to expand his reach by campaigning with Kennedy, Haley, and Kemp.